18 U.S. Code § 210 - Offer to procure appointive public office

Whoever pays or offers or promises any money or thing of value, to any person, firm, or corporation in consideration of the use or promise to use any influence to procure any appointive office or place under the United States for any person, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Term “or place” was inserted after words “appointive office” in order to give broader scope to the section and also to follow the phraseology used in similar provisions of section
202 of Title
18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., now section
216 [repealed] of this title. (See 46 Corpus Juris 924, where it is explained that the work “places” is used in a less technical sense than the word “offices”.)

The punishment provision, added at the end of this section and section
215 [now section
211] of this title to secure uniformity of style throughout this chapter, was originally enacted as a separate section, incorporating the other two by reference. 80th Congress House Report No. 304.

Prior Provisions

A prior section
210, act June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 693, related to acceptance of a bribe by a witness, prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Pub. L. 87–849and is substantially covered in revised section
201.

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–322substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.